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Tag Archives: attorney

Book of the Week — Tablettes De La Vie et De La Mort

18 Monday Sep 2017

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attorney, bibliophile, ceremonies, Christine A. Jones, Eugène Paillet, fidelity, fleurs de lys, French, Greek, Hebrew, Jean Thomas, Jesuits, judge, King Henri IV of France, Latin, law, Louis XIII, Lyon, Montauban, morocco, ornaments, Paris, Penard Fernández, Pierre Mathieu, quatrains, reception, religion, royal, Royal Historiographer, Société des Amis du Livre, The University of Utah, Toulouse, tragedies, translation, Valence, war, World Languages and Cultures

PQ1820-M28-T11-1629-Cover
“It seems that from a King, the Majesty fades
Without many servants trailing his royalty
It may be grand to engage them in spades
But it is a great pain to depend on their loyalty.”

Tablettes de la vie et de la mort
Pierre Mathieu (1593-1621)
A Paris: Iean Petit-Paz, rue S. Iacques, à l’eseu de Venise, près les Mathurins, MDCXXIX (1629) avec privilege dv Roy
First and only complete edition with Latin translation
PQ1820 M28 T11 1629

Pierre Mathieu studied under the Jesuits and mastered Latin, ancient Greek and Hebrew. When he was nineteen his first tragedy, “Esther” was performed and published in Lyon in 1585. Before his death, Mathieu published four more allegorical tragedies, exploring contemporary issues of war in defense of religion. He studied law at Valence, receiving his doctorat in 1586. He was chosen and sent by the residents of Lyon to King Henri IV of France in 1594 to represent to him their fidelity. A year earlier, he had been put in charge of organizing the ceremonies of the king’s royal reception during his visit to Lyon. In Paris Mathieu became Royal Historiographer and was privileged guest of the royal court and the king. He fell ill accompanying Louis XIII at the siege of Montauban and died in Toulouse.

This collection of cultivated admonitions was written by Matheiu for Henri IV and then Louis XIII, Henri IV’s son. It is made up of individual parts that were published over a period of sixteen years (the last posthumously) — and were printed alone, in pairs, or all together, often in this irresistible little palm-sized format. Matheiu intended his readership to memorize the three suites, or volumes, each of one hundred quatrains. Attorney Jean Thomas (act. 1645) translated the French into Latin, printed in just this edition.

The present copy belonged to Louis XIII or was for presentation by him. It bears the book plate of Eugène Paillet (1829-1901) and the stamp of one Penard Fernández.

Paillet was a Parisian lawyer and judge and one of the great French bibliophiles of the nineteenth century. He was particularly interested in acquiring a number of different editions of the same work in order to illustrate the history of the publication. He was a founding member of the Société des Amis du Livre in 1874.

The translation of the quatrain above is by Christine A. Jones, Professor, World Languages and Cultures, The University of Utah. She explained that this was a “quick, unpolished” translation “to give the reader a sense of the irony and juicy moral ambiguity of the poems.”

French text facing the Latin translation, ornaments throughout. Each page bears various hand ruled borders in light faded red ink. Bound in contemporary gilt red morocco, chain-and-bloom roll around a central panel diapered with a dotted roll, interstices with fleurs de lys, which also fill the single vertical spine compartment. Marbled pastedowns, all edges gilt.

PQ1820-M28-T11-1629-Pastedown

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Book of the Week — The Farmer’s Diary, or, Beers’ Ontario Almanack, for the Year of our Lord 1824

20 Monday Mar 2017

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Albany, almanacs, American, Andrew Beers, attorney, Beers' Ontario Almanack, Canandaigua, diary, editor, farmers, James D. Bemis, Joseph Smith, New York, New York City, nineteenth century, Ontario County, Ontario Repository and Genesee Advertiser, polymath, spring, weather

AY256-N5-F26-1824-Title

“This month is generally ushered in with boisterous wind and nipping frosts. The hapless mariner beholds his vessel wrecked upon the very rocks which bind his much-loved home. Vegetation perishes through severe and untimely ires!; and deluging rains, descending with impetuous force crush the springing blade, and despoil the beauty of the gay parterre. Even thus do the rude passions of man’s soul break forth with resistless force at this unsettled period of existence, wrecking the fragile bark of youth. The tide of dissipation sweeps away the principles of virtue, which have not had time to take root, and every noble energy is blighted by the influence of bad example.”

Happy Spring!

The Farmer’s Diary, or, Beers’ Ontario Almanack, for the Year of our Lord 1824
Canandaigua, NY: Printed and sold, wholesale and retail, by J. D. Bemis, 1824
AY256 N5 F26

For all their necessity, American almanacs in the early nineteenth century assumed that most farmers understood, without printed confirmation, events such as the beginning of spring. Nonetheless, warnings such as the one above about the ravages of early spring weather, not to mention the unsettling effect it has on the “fragile bark of youth,” pervaded these sage documents. As evidenced here, spring fever was alive and well in 1824.

Attorney Andrew Beers acted as chief polymath for several almanacs in New York City before he moved to Albany in 1797. He began working with printers in western New York towns wanting to issue almanacs particular to their areas. Newspaperman and publisher James D. Bemis of Canandaigua, nine miles from the home of Joseph Smith, turned to Beers for help with astronomical, monetary and other calculations invaluable to local farmers and businessmen. Bemus was the editor of the Ontario Repository and Genesee Advertiser. Ontario County, New York was home to Joseph Smith and his family between 1816 and 1830.

AY256-N5-F26-1824-Signs

AY256-N5-F26-1824-backcover

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Book of the Week — The Democratic Book

25 Monday Jul 2016

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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Tags

administration, attorney, banking, Bay Area, book, cabinet, California Zephyr, Chicago, Constitution, convention, Democrat, democratic, Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad, election, endpapers, first lady, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, funeral, Geneva Steel, gilt, Herbert Hoover, judge, morocco, platform, President, railroad, Reconstruction Finance Corporation, Republican, Rio Grande, San Francisco, silk, The Democratic National Convention, Third District Court, train, Utah, vista-dome cars, Wilson McCarthy

JK2313-1936-D38-frontisJK2313-1936-D38-signature

“Better the occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.” — Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1936

THE DEMOCRATIC BOOK, 1936
Philadelphia?, 1936?
JK2313 1936 D38 oversize

This book was given to delegates at the 1936 Democratic convention, held that year in Philadelphia. It contains information such as the party’s platform, election results, and statements from the President, his cabinet members, other important members of his administration, and the first lady.

This copy belonged to Wilson McCarthy (1884-1956), a judge who sat on Utah’s Third District Court in 1919. He left the bench a year later and earned a fortune as a private practice attorney. In 1926 he was elected to the Utah state senate. A lifelong Democrat, he was appointed by Republican President Herbert Hoover to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation in 1932. A year later, he began a career in banking in San Francisco. In 1934, the RFC asked him to take control of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, which had just defaulted on a $10 million loan. It took McCarthy and others nearly two decades to rehabilitate the company. In 1937 alone, $18 million was pumped into the property.

Under McCarthy’s administration the Rio Grande built more than 1100 bridges and laid more than two million railroad ties. By the end of World War II, the railroad’s revenues had increased from $17 million to $75 million per year. During this time, McCarthy anchored the Rio Grande between Salt Lake City (his birthplace) and Denver. Freight time between these two points dropped from 54 hours to just under 24 hours. McCarthy, in conjunction with the Western Pacific Railroad began the “California Zephyr,” a luxury service between Chicago and the Bay Area. He also added the train’s signature vista-dome cars.

In addition to his turn-around of the fortunes of the railroad, McCarthy helped bring Geneva Steel to Utah. On the day of his funeral, every Rio Grande train stopped, their crews observing two minutes of silence.

This book was also published, with some variations, under the title The Democratic National Convention, 1936. The book contains dozens of contemporary advertisements, many in color. Illustrated with nineteen full-page portraits and dozens of in-text half-tones and illustrations, and a facsimile of the Constitution. Bound in full brown morocco gilt, watered silk endpapers, top edge gilt. Limited edition of unknown quantity. University of Utah copy is no. 1464, stamped in gilt “Wilson McCarthy” and signed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Gift of Wilson McCarthy.

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Book of the week — Reports du Tres Erudite Edmund Saunders

13 Monday Jun 2016

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week, Donations

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attorney, Blackstone, Catherine Weller, Charles II, Edmund Saunders (d. 1683), John Adams (1735-1826), John Quincy Adams (1767-1848), London, Lord Chief Justice, marginalia, Massachusetts, Newburyport, Thomas Roscoe, Tony Weller, University of Utah, Weller Book Works

titlespread
“…my small stock of professional knowledge…”

REPORTS DU TRES ERUDITE EDMUND SAUNDERS…
Edmund Saunders (d. 1683)
London: W. Rawlins, S. Roycroft, and M. Flesher, 1686
First edition

Edmund Saunders grew up in poverty. He taught himself to read and write and eventually became Lord Chief Justice during the reign of Charles II. Thomas Roscoe in Westminster Hall, (1825) wrote that Saunders, “…by books that were lent to him, became an exquisite entering clerk; and, by the same course of improvements of himself, an able counsel…” His classic Reports was read by John Quincy Adams (1767-1848).

In a letter to his father, John Adams (1735-1826), written from Newburyport, Massachusetts in 1789, the younger Adams lists this book, along with Blackstone, as one of those that “contributed to my small stock of professional knowledge” while he apprenticed as an attorney. University of Utah copy has minimal marginalia in contemporary hand throughout. University of Utah copy gift of Tony and Catherine Weller, Weller Book Works.

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A Gift from the Past – A story from one of our readers

25 Friday Dec 2015

Posted by scott beadles in Uncategorized

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Albuquerque, American Legion, Amherst, attorney, bibliophile, Charles Scribner's Sons, childhood, Dallas, Depression, Dred Scott, Eugene Field, Fannie Smith, folk songs, fugitive slave, hero, initial, legends, Los Angeles, Luise Putcamp jr, lullabies, Massachusetts, Maxfield Parrish, migrant workers, Missouri, New York, newspaperman, Pecos, Placitas, poems, rare books, San Francisco, San Leandro, Sarmento, Texas

PS1667-P6-1904-pl28
Poems of Childhood
Eugene Field (1850-1895)
New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1904
PS1667 P6 1904

Newspaperman Eugene Field was born in Missouri. His father, an attorney, successfully defended Dred Scott, a fugitive slave. Field’s mother died when he was six. He and his younger brother grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts, cared for by a paternal cousin. Field was the father of eight children. He worked for the St. Louis Evening Journal, St. Joseph Gazette, St. Louis Times-Journal, and the Kansas City Times. He wrote a column for the Chicago Morning News until his death. On the one hand a sharp satirist, on the other Field wrote sentimental verse. He is best known for “Little Boy Blue” (1888), a poem memorized by thousands of school children for many decades. He published several books of verse, some specifically about childhood. With Trumpet and Drum (1892), included “Wynken, Blynken and Nod” and lullabies, legends, and folk songs from different countries, a study of particular interest to him. Love-Songs of Childhood (1894) included “The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat.” Field, a bibliophile, collected rare and unusual books of beauty. He also made his own books, often rubricating the first initial of a poem with various color inks. Much of his published work was illustrated by Maxfield Parrish, including this popular collection of his poetry.

“A Gift From the Past”

Night was coming on.

The old car carrying the parents and their three stairstep children was headed south, down the highway from San Francisco. No destination. No money.

The year was 1933.

The hand-lettered sign stood in front of an orchard near San Leandro. Fruit Pickers Wanted. The dad pulled into the yard and knocked at the house door.

Three children? They’ll stay out of the way. There’s a house you can use.

We piled out of the car. With broom and mop and rags the parents soon had the corners of the two-room house swept, the worn linoleum clean, the gas-burner stove sanitary.

The mother told the orchard owner, Mr. Sarmento, that she had no money for food. He gave her an advance on fruit picker pay. She loaded up on staples. A roof! Food money! In an exuberance of relief, she made pies from peaches gleaned from beneath a nearby tree and gave one pie to the Sarmentos.

Migrant workers. Anglo braceros. 

After the fruit was picked, the Sarmentos found more work around the orchard for the parents. For the three kids, it was an idyllic time.

The oldest daughter spent much of it perched in a big old tree behind the Sarmento house, reading the few books salvaged in an earlier hegira from Los Angeles.

The big, beautiful books were presents from The Aunt Who Always Gave Books, Aunt Fannie Smith, in Dallas.One of them was the 1904 edition (still going in 1932) of Eugene Field’s Poems of Childhood with illustrations by Maxfield Parrish.
PS1667-P6-1904-frontis

Even at eight years old, this daughter knew that most of the poems were a mediocre mishmash. Mostly she immersed her mind in the Maxfield Parrish pictures that transported her so far from drab surroundings.

But there was an old faithful, “Just Fore Christmas.” How often she’d heard her Daddy Bill recite that!
“Father calls me William, sister calls me Will,
 “Mother calls me Willie but the fellers call me Bill.”
 
    PS1667-P6-1904-spread116-117
 
And she did memorize the lugubrious “Little Boy Blue.”

Over in Texas, the boy who would grow up to marry her would memorize it, too. He got an American Legion medal for making the best grades of any elementary school kid in Pecos. He blew the last lines in reciting “Little Boy Blue” but he was a hero, anyway.

The girl’s family left the Sarmento orchard behind and went on to other Depression Day adventures. Books and other treasures were left behind or lost in unpaid storage.

Fast forward to the late 1980’s, in Placitas.

From one of those bookfind places, the aging Depression child was able to buy, for $35, a battered copy of the memory-laden old book.

And this year, Scribner’s reissued Poems of Childhood. The Maxfield Parrish illustrations look true to the original.

Now the next generation (and the next) can wince at the poems and marvel at the illustrations.

Albuquerque, NM 1996
Luise Putcamp, jr.
PS1667-P6-1904-swing

alluNeedSingleLine

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